Machine for tacking footwear



Feb. 27, 1951 K. KVQAP IL ET AL 3,178

MACHINE FOR TACKING FOOTWEAR Filed March 25, 1947 2 Sheets-Sheet lINVENTORS/ Feb. 27, 1951 K. KVAPlL ET AL MACHINE FOR TACKING FOOTWEAR 2Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 25, 1947 INVENTORS Patented Feb. 27, 1951MACHINE FOR TACKING FOOTWEAR Klement Kvapil and Josef Zaoral, Zlin, andVilm Ostril, Horni Mostenice, Czechoslovakia, assignors to Bata, narodnipodnik, Zlin, Czecho- Slovakia Application March 25, 1947, Serial No.737,074 In Germany September 30, 1944 Section 1, Public Law 690, August8, 1946 Patent expires September 30, 1964 8 Claims.

This invention relates to a fixing device in toe tacking machines forfootwear, which pull over the upper part and at the same time tack it,which device comprises a system of fixing stations distributed in afan-like manner and serving the purpose of wiping the marginal portionsof the upper part over the edge of the last and the inner sole, andconsists in this, that the individual stations are provided withindependent hydraulic drives which efiect the pushing forward ofseparate stations into operative position till they strike against thework.

Toe tacking machines which pull over the upper part and at the same timetack it on have hitherto become known only in the patent literature onthe subject; they are rarely to be found installed in works. For tackingon shoe toes the general practice has hitherto been, first of all togive a preparatory tacking to the upper part on a pulling over machine,that is to say, the upper part is drawn and stretched over the last and,in that position, is secured with a few fixing means, whereupon in afurther machine, a shoe finishtacking machine, the provisionally tackedupper part is finish-tacked in a similar manner to that employed in theknown heel tacking machines. Shoe finsh-ta-cking machines for operatingon provisionally tacked upper parts are provided, on the one hand, withwiping members which lay the marginal portion of the upper part afterthe latter has been pulled over and already secured at the mostimportant places, such as the toe and the sides, over the edge of thelast and the inner sole and, on the other hand, with a nailing devicewhich through apertures in the wipers fixes the said marginal parts onthe inner sole. In the great majority of such tacking machines the soleis operated on with its under part turned upwards, so that above theshoe sufficient space is available for the nailing device which isdisposed above the wipers and is, in most cases, directly connected withthe wipers. A great disadvantage of this arrangement of the wipers andthe nailing devices is, that on machines which have to operate both onleft-foot and right-foot shoes, and, what is more, in different sizes,each shoe can be finishtacked only in the symmetrical part of the toe,that is in the part extending from the toe to just behind the toe cap atthe sides, as, even in different sizes of shoes, this symmetrical parthas approximately the same shape. In order that the tacking shall not beperformed so mechanically and shall better adapt itself to the shape ofthe last, or, for instance, to enable heels as well to be tacked on atoe tacking machine without having to alter the setting of any parts, ithas already been proposed to provide in place of the usual two-part,hinged wipers and the nailing device connected to the same anarticulated arrangement of the nailing devices which then act at thesame time as wipers. These articulated nailing devices are mostlyinterconnected by means of a flexible band which is subjected along itsentire periphery simultaneously to a uniform pressure action, forinstance produced, hydraulically, the articulated nailing device movingunder the influence of this pressure over the edge of the last and theinner sole inwards towards one another, at the same time wiping themarginal portion of the upper part. When their movement has beencompleted, the fixing means are driven in in all the devices with asingle blow. This arrangement and another similar arrangement withhydraulic drive (with individual members of circular form, which aredisposed closely next to one another, so that they can move only incircular paths, each member being controlled by its own piston and allpistons being actuated from a single common pressure chamber) are notsuitable for tacking machines which have to pull over and simultaneouslytack the upper part, since the stroke (forward movement) of the nailingor fixing members is very short and would not be suflicient for enablingthe members to be removed so far from the place of operation as not tobe in the way during the operation of the pulling over nippers or of thetoe form, without which a toe tacking machine which is to pull overand-at the same time finish-tack an upper part cannot be constructed.The nail supply to the fixing members and the actuation of the strikinghammers would also present great difficulties.

The disposition of the nailing or fixing device in toe tacking machineswhich pull over and at the same time finish-tack the upper part isrendered still more diflicult, owing to the circumstance, that, forfacilitating a check as to whether the stretched over upper part is inits correct position on the last, these machines operate like the knownpulling over machines with the under part of the shoe turned downwards.The nailing on and wiping must thus also be effected from below. Theresult of this is, that in the known toe tacking machine which itselfpulls over and at the same time finish-tacks the upper part, whilst thewiping of the marginal portions of the upper part is carried out bymeans of the usual smoothing wipers of known construction, the nailingdevices are, in contradistinction to all known arrangements of thiskind,

arranged separated from the wipers in a single block. This block, theshape of which corresponds to that of the shoe toe, is disposed betweenthe pulling over nippers below the shoe support. Apart from thecircumstance, that, if left and right shoes of the same kind indiiferent sizes are to be operated on in a single machine, thefinish-tacking of the shoe toe without changing the nailing block andwithout adjusting the wipers can be carried out only in that part of theshoe toe, which in the left-foot and right-foot shoe and in some fewsizes of the same kind of shoe will be at least approximately the same,that is only in the toe part, a further disadvantage of this arrangementis the difficulty of feeding nails to the nailing block. As this nailingblock is situated between the pulling over nippers below the shoesupport, it is completely covered up after the shoe has been placed inthe machine, so that the operation of filling the block with nails canonly be performed at a time, when there is no shoe in the machine, thatis, after a finish-tacked shoe has been removed from the machine. Itwill be clear, that the running of the machine can in this case only beinterrupted, when the supply of nails is exhausted, and that the freshshoe to be operated on can only be placed in the machine, when themachine has come to rest, which causes a considerable loss of time and aconsequent reduction in output.

In contradistinction thereto, the arrangement in accordance with theinvention of the fixing device in toe tacking machines makes it possibleto keep up the supply of fixing means without loss of time and also doesaway with the other, previously mentioned disadvantages of known fixingdevices, through enabling the upper part to be finish-tacked in thewhole of the forward part of the shoe, that is, from the toe to thewaist of the shoe, both in left and right shoes over a large range ofboys or girls shoes to the largest sizes of mens or womens shoes.

The supplying of nails to the individual fixing stations disposed inaccordance with the invention, when these are for instance provided withnailing devices, takes place, when the said stations are pushed wellback out of the operative position, and at a time, during which otherparts of the machine, for instance the known toe form,

are in operation. According to the invention each fixing station has itsown hydraulic drive which is independent of the drive of the otherstations, so that the individual stations can be brought into theoperative position in any desired sequence which makes it possible toadopt a novel tacking procedure, such, for instance, as that describedin the' concurrent patent application Serial No. 737,072, now abandoned.Since the known toe forms adapt themselves closely to the shape of thelast, the coming into position of the individual stations and thedriving in of the fixing means in consequence also takes place exactlyin accordance with the shape of the last, irrespective of whether it isa left or a right one or of large or small size.

For obtaining perfect smoothing of the upper part at the toe of the shoethese stations may also cooperate with toe wipers of a known kind. Theformation of folds between the individual fixing stations is preventedby a special formation of the front surfaces of the fixing stations,which efiect the wiping, whilst at places, where according to experiencethe folds occur most frequently, that is in the ball part of the shoe,the end surfaces overlap one another, which is made possible through theindividual stations being pushed forward successively.

The arrangement according to the invention of the fixing devices alsomakes possible an advantageous construction and actuation of the drivinghammers, when nails are used as the fixing means. Whilst in knownnailing devices of this kind all the nails are driven in simultaneously,for which purpose considerable force is required, which must beproduced, not by one blow, but by steady pressure which is transmittedby a system of levers and rods, in the arrangement according to theinvention the nails of each fixing station are driven in independently.For this purpose a far smaller force is sufficient and the nails can bedriven in by impact which is released by a compressed spring. Thecompression of this spring is performed by each fixing station itselfduring its return motion out of the operative position. The release ofthe blow takes place, on the working position being reached, in thecorrect position in each case through the action of a trigger device onimpact, for instance against the toe form. The noise of the impact ofthe striker can be suppressed by means of a silencer.

The correct driving in of the nails in the direction of motion and theaxial direction of the striking hammers is ensured by the latter beingmagnetised, whilst the striker heads, in which the hammers are guided,are made of non-magnetic material, so that each introduced into thestriker head with the nail head downwards is held by the magnetic hammerin the upright position, until it is driven in.

The front parts of the fixing stations are pref erably made yielding inthe vertical direction, in order that they may adapt themselves in thevertical direction as well, on driving against the upper part on thelast.

Further advantages and features of the present invention will begathered from the following description of a constructional exampleaccording to the invention with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 shows a general arrangement of the fixing stations provided withnailing devices for a toe tacking machine in plan view;

Fig. 2 shows details of one of the fixing stations.

The machine is provided with an ordinary shoe support I, on which theshoe to be operated on in the machine rests with the bottom part facingdownwards. Around this shoe support is grouped in the usual manner asystem of pulling over nippers, of which 2 represents the toe nippers,3, 3' the side nippers and 4, 4 the ball nippers. After the upper parthas been stretched and pulled over the last by the said pulling overnippers, the upper part is held firmly in the stretched over position bya toe form 5 of a known kind, which embraces the last as far as thewaist part. At the lower side of the toe form 5, which lies in the sameplane as the bottom surface of the shoe, which is being operated on,there is provided a two-part wiper 6 of known construction, whichsmooths in the marginal portions of the upper part at the toe in theusual way. In this wiper -6 there is a series of apertures T, throughwhich at the toe the fixing nails, for instance, are driven in.

The wiping of the marginal portion of the upper part at the places,where the toe wiper 5 does not act, and the tacking on of the upper partin the whole of the forward part of the shoe 7 as far as the waist partis carried out by a series of fixing stations, of which the station Iacts in the longitudinal axis of the last, whilst the stations II-II,III--III', IV-IV, V--V and VIVI' are distributed fanwise around theworking place, each two oppositely disposed stations lying symmetricallyand all the stations, when in the inoperative position, being at asufficient distance behind the pulling over nippers, so as to give theworker free access, when placing the shoe into the machine, and not tohinder the pulling over nippers in their work. The individual fixingstations are all of the same construction except for minor differencesas regards the number of nails driven in simultaneously.

The fixing station consists of a standard 8 which is mounted rigidly inthe machine frame 9 and is at a definite distance from the pulling overnippers. On the lower part of the standard 8 is mounted a hydrauliccylinder I0, into which lead two pressure fluid conduits II, I2.Slidable in the cylinder I3 is a piston I3, the length of stroke ofwhich corresponds to the greatest possible forward motion of the fixingstation, occurring in the manufacture of the smallest shoe sizes in themachine. The piston rod I4 extends through a stufling box I5 and isprovided at its outer end with a head piece I6 having a neck II. In thisneck I! is engaged an arm I B of a slide I9 which is provided in itssides with two pairs of rollers 38, 68' which are guided in grooves 69on the inside walls of the standard 8. The left-hand extreme position ofthe slide l9 with the piston I3 is determined in the standard 8 by asecuring lever in which is supported by a pin II mounted so as to berotatable in the side walls of the standard 8 and is controlled by ahand lever I2 which is also fixed to the pin II, but is situated on theoutside of the standard 8. In the operative position the levers I0 andi2 occupy the position shown in Fig. 2. When the slide is to be removedfrom the standard (which is carried out with the slide in its lefthandextreme position), the lever 12 is turned by hand in thecounter-clockwise direction through 90; this causes the lever II! to getout of engagement with the arm I8 of the slide and the latter togetherwith the piston I3 can be pushed a short distance further to the left,until the roller 68 leaves the groove 69 of the standard and the rollers68' come below the opening 13 which leads out of the groove 69 upwards.In this position the entire slide I9 can be lifted upwards out of thestandard 8, the arm I 8 leaving the head I6 of the piston rod I4. In thereverse way the slide can be replaced into the standard. In the standard8 there is also an inclined ramp 2!], the purpose of which will bedescribed below.

In the upper part of the slide I9 is a recess 2I, in which on a pivot 22a two-armed lever 23 is rockablc, which on the arm directed towards theplace, where the work is carried out, supports a nailing head 24 made ofnon-magnetic material. This nailing head is provided with nail apertures25 for the reception of the nails and for guiding the striking hammers23 which are magnetised. The number of nail apertures of a single fixingstation may vary, as will be seen from Fig. l. The nailing heads 24 aretherefore of different shape which is determined, on the one hand, bythe number of nails to be driven in by one station and, on the otherhand, by the contour of that place at the shoe toe, at which the nailinghead comes into operation. The nailing heads of those stations whichcome into action at the operative place of the smoothing wipers 6, thatis, the nailing heads I, IIII and III-III', have straight front surfaces(as can be seen from Fig. 1). The heads of the other stations, however,viz. the stations IV-IV, V--V' and VL-VI', are provided with projections21, which serve the purpose of smoothing out the folds at the wipermarginal portion of the upper part. It will be seen in Fig. 1, that theprojection 21 of the station IV--IV is formed at that part of the head24, which lies nearer the heel, as is also the case at the stationsVI--VI:whereas at the stations VV the projections 2! are formed at theparts of the heads facing the shoe toe. The object of this arrangementwill be explained below. The upper parts 28 of the front surfaces of allthe fixing stations, whether provided with projections or not, arerounded in the front part, as will be seen from Fig. 2, in order thatthe nail guiding head, when striking against the last, can adapt itselfin the vertical direction as well to any inequalities in the thicknessof the tacked on marginal portion of the upper part without damaging it.The front surfaces 28 of the nailing stations I, 11-11, IIIIII', whichoperate in the effective range of the smoothing wipers 6, lie in oneplane with the under surface of these wipers whilst the front surfacesof the other stations lie in the plane of the lower part of the shoe,that is to say, higher by the thickness of wipers. The nail guiding head2 is enabled to adapt itself to the thickness of the material of theupper part through the two-armed lever 23 which carries the head 24resting on a rubber block 29 which is fixed firmly in the body of theslide I9. This rubber block allows of any required depression of thenail guiding head 24, if the marginal portion of the upper part shouldhappen to be thicker at the place, where the nail guiding head isoperating. 'The initial position of the nail guiding head 24 isvertically adjustable with respect to the working plane, for instance bymeans of an adjusting screw 36 which is screwed into the shorter arm ofthe lever 23 and is secured against working loose by a slot 3| drawntogether by a securing screw 32.

All the striking hammers 2B of a nailing station are actuated by acommon striker 33 which has the form of a two-armed lever capable ofrocking about a pivot pin 36 supported in the slide I9. In a preferredway of establishing the connection of the hammer pins 26 with thestriker, the lower ends of the hammers 25 are provided with ball heads35 which are guided in dovetail grooves 36 at the end of the striker.The driving blow of the striker is released by a compressed spring 31which bears with one end against an upper collar of the casing 38 fixedto the'slide I9 and rests with the other end on the fork 39 which ispivotally attached to the lefthand lever arm of the striker 33. The fork39 is connected by a tie rod All extending through the spring 3'! withan adjustable guiding head 4| which, after the release of the blow,strikes against a rubber cushion 42 which is housed in the upper end ofthe casing 38 and is drawn over the tie rod to. The head ii and thecushion 42 serve the purpose of limiting the length of stroke andcushioning the stroke itself. From above, the guiding head All iscovered by means of a cap 43 fixed to the casing 38.

When the blow is delivered, the spring expands suddenly and must,therefore, be recompressed for delivering another blow. This compressiontakes place during the return motion of the slide I9 from the operativeposition and hand end of the striker lever being moved along an inclinedrail 20, whereby the left-hand end of the striker is raised andconsequently the fork 39 together with the rod 48 and the head 4| isalso pushed upwards and the spring 31 is again compressed. The securingof the spring 3! in the compressed position and of the hammers 26 in thelower positions with respect to the guiding channels 25 beforeperforming the hammering in operation is ensured by a latch 45 which hasat one end a flattened projection 45, whilst its other end is providedwith a guiding pin 47, over which a compression spring 48 is slipped.The latch 45 together with the spring 48 is housed in a bore 49 in therear wall 50 of the slide [9. The bore 49 is reduced at its lefthand endto a smaller internal diameter, through which the guiding pin 41projects outwards through the rear wall from where an adjusting nut 5|is screwed. The spring 48 which bears against the shoulder in the borethus keeps the latch 45 forced to the right with the nut 5| bearingagainst the outer wall of the reduced part of the bore 49, so that theprojecting part 46 of the latch enters into engagement with acorresponding offset 52 of the lefthand arm of the striker 33, whichafter the return movement of the slide I9 is caught in the forced upposition, as will be seen in Fig. 2.

Now, when the hammering stroke of the striker 33 is to be released, theengagement of the offset 52 of the striker with the projection 45 of thelatch 45 must be interrupted, which is effected by the latch 45 beingforced in opposition to the pressure of the spring 43 into the bore 49.This forcing in is effected by a trigger device 53 coacting with a pushbar 54. The trigger device 53 is in the form of a lever provided in itsrearward part with a longitudinal slot 55 and mounted in a cut-away part56 of the two-armed lever 23 on the pin 22, the forward part of thelever being guided in a recess 5'! of the lever 23. The upper surface ofthe forward part of the trigger 53 lies in the same plane as the topsurface 28 of the nail guiding head 24, a shoulder 58 being formed inthe front part of the trigger 53 at a distance from its end,corresponding to the thickness of the toe forming band 5 at theoperative place of the nailing station. The push bar 54 which is guidedat one end in a recess 51 of the rear wall 50 of the slide and at theother end on a pin 59 is provided with two arms, of which the upwardlydirected arm 65 is in engagement with the rear part of the trigger 53and the downwardly directed arm 6| with the latch member 45 which underthe influence of the spring 48 holds the trigger 53 in the positionshown in Fig. 2, that is, the trigger is in its right-hand extremeposition, in which the longitudinal slot 55 bears with its left-hand endagainst the pin 22. In the middle part of the push bar 54 is an opening62 which allows of the free passage of the fork 39. The release of thestriker 33 takes place, when the slide moves forward into the operativeposition and the shoulder 58 of the trigger 53 strikes for instanceagainst the toe form, so that a relative displacement of the trigger 53on the pin 22 towards the left is brought about. This displacement istransmitted by the push bar 54 to the latch member 45 which also movesto the left in opposition to the pressure of the spring 48, so that itsprojection 46 releases the left-hand end 52 of the striker 33 and thelatter can under the influence of the initially stressed spring 31perform its rocking motion for driving in the nails.

The supplying of the channels 25 of the nail guiding head 24 with nailstakes place in the pushed-back position of the slide i9 inv the standard8, as can be seen in the left-hand part of Fig. 2. In this position thenail guiding head 24 has its channels 25 below the outlet opening 63 ofnail guiding member 64 which is made of non-magnetic material and isadapted to rock about the pivot 65 on the standard 8. Into the nailguiding member 54 lead small flexible tubes 65, through which the nailsare fed point upwards from a filling and sorting device of a known kind(not shown). The number of open ings 63 of the nail guiding member 64corresponds of course to the number of channels 25 in the nail guidinghead 24.

The supply of pressure fluid alternately to the inlet pipes H and I2 ofthe working cylinder H1 is effected with the aid of a control slidevalve of a known kind (not shown) through a pressure pipe provided witha safety valve which, on a certain pressure being exceeded, allows thepressure fluid to escape into the waste pipe. This case always occurs,when the movement of the piston l3 with the slide 49 to the rightceases, on the shoulder 58 of the trigger 53 striking against the toeforming band 5.

The described arrangement operates as follows:

Before the work is placed in the machine all the fixing stations are intheir initial positions, as

shown in Fig. 1 at the stations II, III, V and VI. The actuating devicesof the individual stations occupy the position illustrated in theleft-hand part of Fig. 2, that is, the slide 19 together with the pistonl3 and all the connected parts are in the left-hand extreme position. Inthis state there is sufficient free space around the working place forthe worker to introduce the shoe to be operated on into the machinewithout diihculty and to insert the marginal portions of the upper partbetween the opened, pushed up pulling over nippers. As soon as the upperpart has been pulled over in the usual way, the shoe is embraced in aknown manner by a toe form 5 which presses the stretched over upper partat the entire periphery against the edge of the last from the toe to thewaist. The toe and side nippers 2, 3, 3' thereupon release the upperpart, whilst the ball nippers 4, 4 may still be left in the tensionedstate. While the pulling over nippers or the toe form are in action, thenail guiding heads 24 may be filled with nails.

According to the tacking method described in the concurrent patentapplication, Serial No. 737,072, now abandoned, for carrying out whichthe fixing device according to the present invention is particularlysuitable, the upper part is first of all finish-tacked at the places ofgreatest tension, that is, at the sides, where the fixing stations IV,IV are operative. For this purpose the supply of the pressure fluidthrough the inlet pipes I I of the working cylinders i 0 of the fixingstations IV and IV commences, whilst the inlet pipes l2 are connected tothe waste, so that the pistons l3 of the said stations move to theright. The slides [9 together with the striking levers 33 secured instressed positions and the other described parts are thereby pushed tothe right out of the standard 8. The shoulder at the same time throwsthe nail guiding member 64 upwards, which under the influence of theelasticity of the flexible tube 66 first swings back behind the shoulder58 and then slides freely along the upper surface of the trigger member53. During the forward motion of the slide l9 out of the standard 8 theprojection 27 first drives with its end surface 28 from below againstthe marginal portion of the upper part, which after being released bythe side nippers juts out downwards, and turns it in over the edge ofthe last towards the axis of the shoe, in the manner shown in theright-hand part of Fig. 2. The motion of the slide i9 is, of course,shared by the part 53 of the trigger arrangement, the forward part ofwhich, lying in the same plane as the face 28 of the nail guiding head24, alsopasses under the toe form 5. The joint movement of trigger part53 and the slide l9 comes to an end, however, as soon as the shoulder 53strikes against the outer edge of the toe form 5, whilst the slide itwith the nail guiding head and the pin 22 drives on a short distancefurther, namely by an amount corresponding to the length of the slot 55.When the slide has travelled this distance, the pin 22 strikes againstthe right-hand end of the longitudinal slot 55 and can move no further.While the pin 22 is travelling in the longitudinal slot 55 from theleft-hand to the right-hand end of the latter, the bar 5 is forced bythe reaction of the left-hand end of the trigger part 53 which hasalready come to rest to the left and in the same direction forces thelatch member 45 into the bore 49, so that at the same moment, in whichthe slide I9 comes to rest, the left-hand end of the striker 33 isreleased and the latter under the action of the expanding spring 3?delivers the blow, that is, swings suddenly about the pin 3!; in thecounter-clockwise direction. The magnetised hammer members 26 hold thenails in the upright position in the axial direction of the nail guidingchannels, as the nail heads are held firmly by the magnetic forceagainst the upper surface of the hammer members. The nails thus remainin the upright position also during the nail driving motion of thehammer members 26 upwards in the guiding channels 25, so that theypenetrate with certainty through the turned over marginal portion of theupper part into the inner sole and are clinched over against the base ofthe last, which is usually covered with sheet metal (of the operativeposition of the nailing device shown in the right-hand half of Fig. 2).

As soon as the nailing on operation has been completed, the infiowdirection of the pressure fluid into the pressure cylinder It isreversed, that is, the pressure fluid is caused to enter through theopening [2, whilst the opening I I is connected to the waste. The piston13 together with the slide i9 will then move to the left back into theinitial position. During this motion the roller Ml rolls along the ramp2!] and rocks the striker lever 33 in the clockwise sense in oppositionto the pressure of the spring 3'? which is thereby compressed. The latchmember 45 then jumps forward under the action of the spring 48 into theadvanced position, the trigger part 53 being also pushed forward by thepush bar 54 into the original position shown in Fig. 2, in which thelongitudinal slot 55 bears with its left-hand end against the pin 22.Before reaching the lefthand extreme position of the slide and beforereaching the highest position of the ramp the projection 52 of thestriker lever 33 forces the latch member 45 a little farther to theleft, so that, after the left-hand arm of the striker lever 33 hasreached its highest position, the latch member 45 snaps with itsprojection 46 under 10 the lever end 52, holding the latter in thesecured position for delivering its next blow.

As soon as the fixing stations IV-IV' return into their initialpositions, the wipers 6 are put in operation, which in the usual way layand smooth the marginal portion of the upper part at the toe over theedge of the last and inner sole. After this operation has beencompleted, the wipers 8 remaining closed (as shown in the righthand halfof Fig. 1) the ball nippers 4 also release the upper part and all theremaining fixing stations are put in operation, which are controlled inthe same manner as previously the stations IV IV. Each time theprojection 58 of the trigger part 53 strikes against the outer edge ofthe toe form E and brings the slide l9 to a standstill, the marginalportion of the upper part, wiped by the appropriate fixing station, isnailed to the inner sole. The only difference is, that the fixingstations I, IIII, III-III, which coaot with the toe wipers 6, only servethe purpose of performing the nailing operation, whereas the stationsV-V, VIVI, just as previously the stations IV-IV', not only nail on,but, before the actual nailing operation themselves also lay theappropriate marginal portions of the upper part over the edge of thelast and inner sole. The fixing stations I, 11-11, IIIIII, V-V, andVI'VI, may perform their operative motions either simultaneously or ingroups, this being dependent on the particular method of manufactureemployed.

As will be gathered from Fig. l, in the constructional exampleillustrated all the fixing station cannot operate simultaneously,because, for instance, the nail guiding heads 24 of the fixing stationsIV and V and also the fixing stations III and IV would overlap oneanother in the working positions, approximately by the width of theprojections 2?. The purpose of this arrangement is, to enable any foldswhich might form on the turned over marginal portion of the upper partbetween individual stations operating one after another by theprojection 2? of a following station.

As the distance to which the fixing stations are pushed forward into theoperative position is dependent'on their striking against the work, itbecomes possible to fasten different sizes of shoes and also to fastenleft and right shoes on a single machine, without it being necessary toadjust any of the parts of the fixing device.

The example illustrated, is, of course, not restricted to the describedmode of operation in the manufacture of shoes. On the contrary, a fixingdevice with the features according to the invention can with advantagealso be used in known types of machines which operate only on the toepart of a shoe. It would also be possible to substitute for the nailingdevices of the individual fixing stations other fixing devices, forinstance sticking and pressure applying devices. In this case theindividual fixing stations would be provided with suitable knownauxiliary means for moistening or electrically heating or activating theadhesive between the marginal portions of the upper part and the innersole, which are to be joined.

We claim:

1. For use in toe-tacking machines for footwear, which wipe the upperpart and tack it, a fixing mechanism, comprising a system of fixingstations serving the purpose of wiping the marginal portions of theupper part over the edge of the inner sole, and independent hydraulicdrives 11 for the individual fixing stations, these drives effecting thepushing forward of the separate stations into operative positions tillthey strike against the work and tripping arrangements provided at theindividual stations, which, on the operative positions being reached,start the opera- .tions of the stations.

. 2. For use in toe tacking machines for footwear which wipe the upperpart and tack it, a

fixing mechanism, comprising a system of fixing stations, each having aslidably guided slide, independent hydraulic drives for the individualfixing stations, a two-armed lever mounted on each slide, and anail-guiding head supported at one end of each two-armed lever, theupper end surface of each nail-guiding head being formed with orificesconstituting nail-guiding channels, and the said upper end surfaceconstituting means for wiping the marginal portions of the upper partover the edge of the inner sole.

3. For use in toe-tacking machines for footwear which wipe the upperpart and tack it, a fixing mechanism, comprising a system of fixingstations, a toe form holding the stretched upper part, a slidably guidedslide at each fixing station, a Wiping and fixing element on each of thesaid slides, a striking hammer at each station for driving in the fixinmeans and a pivoted springloaded striker lever at each station forimpelling the striking hammer upwardly, a securing latch member at eachfixing station for holding the striker lever in a tensioned positionbefore the initiation of the striking motion, and a tripping arrangementat each fixing station for releasing the striker lever as soon as theslidably guided slide drives against the toe form that holds the upperpart.

4. For use in toe-tacking machines for footwear which wipe the upperpart and tack it, a fixing mechanism, comprising a system of fixingstations, a toe form holding the stretched upper part, a slidably guidedslide at each fixing station, independent hydraulic drives for theindividual fixing stations, a two-armed lever mounted in each slide, thetwo-armed lever being formed with a recess, a nail-guiding headsupported at one end of the two-armed lever, the upper end surface ofthe nail-guiding head being formed with orifices constitutingnail-guiding channels, and the said upper end surface constituting meansfor wiping the marginal portions of the upper part over the edge of theinner sole, a pin carried by the two-armed lever, a trigger .memberdisplaceably mounted on the pin in the recess, and an abutment shoulderon the trigger member, the said shoulder striking against the outer edgeof the toe form when the slide is pushed forward into the operativeposition, thereby bringing the forward motion of the slide to astandstill and releasably causing the striking action of the fixingstation.

5. For use in toe-tacking machines for footwear which wipe the upperpart and at the same time tack it, a fixing mechanism, comprising asystem of fixing stations, a toe form holding the stretched upper part,a slidably guided slide at each fixing station, a wiping and fixingelement on each of the said slides, a two-armed lever mounted in eachslide, the two-armed lever being formed with a recess, and nail-guidingmeans at one end of the two-armed lever, a resilient block on which thefront arm of the two-armed lever rests, an adjusting screw engaging theother arm of the lever to determine its position in a verticaldirection, a pin carried by the two-armed lever,

a trigger member displaceably mounted on the pin in the recess and anabutment shoulder on the trigger member, the said shoulder strikingagainst the outer edge of the toe form when the slide is pushed forwardinto the operative position, thereby bringing the forward motion of theslide to a standstill and releasably causing the striking action of thefixing station.

6. For use in toe-tacking machines for footwear, a fixing mechanism,comprising a system of fixing stations distributed in a fan-like manner,an immobile standard at each fixing station, a slide guided in eachimmobile standard for forward and backward motion, an inclined ramp oneach standard, a striking hammer at each station for driving in thefixing means and a pivoted spring-loaded striker lever at each stationfor impelling the striking hammer upwardly, the inclined ramp beingadapted to bear upon the striker lever during the backward motion of theslide in such a. manner as to stress the spring of the striker lever andto secure the lever itself in the stressed position.

7. For use in toe-tacking machines for footwear which Wipe the upperpart and tack it, a fixing mechanism, comprising a system of fixingstations and serving the purpose of wiping the marginal portions of theupper part over the edge of the inner sole, and independent hydraulicdrives for the individual fixing stations, these drives effecting thepushing forward of the separate stations into operative positions tillthey strike against the work, a two-armed lever mounted in each slideand a nail-guiding head supported at one end of the two-armed lever, theupper end surface of the nail-guiding head being formed with orificesconstituting nail-guiding channels, and filling devices for nails, whichcome into alignment with the nail-guiding channels of the individualstations when the said stations are pushed back out of the operativeposition.

8. For use in toe-tacking machines for footwear which wipe the upperpart and tack it, a fixing mechanism, comprising a system of fixingstations distributed in a fan-like manner, a standard, formed with arecess providing a pair of trackways, at each fixing station, a slide ineach standard, two pairs of rollers engaging said trackways,respectively, for guiding each slide in its standard, and a latchassociated with each slide for locking and releasing its slide so thateach slide is releasable and removable from its standard.

KLEMENT KVAPIL. JOSEF ZAORL. VILEM OSTRCIL.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date Re. 8,764 Hatch June 17, 1870608,555 Nazel Aug. 2, 1898 1,514,614 Gouldbourn et a1. Nov. 11, 19241,699,673 Pym Jan. 22, 1929 1,710,729 Gouldbourn et al. Apr. 30, 19291,999,545 Muller Apr. 30, 1935 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date413,010 Great Britain July 12, 1934

